I love martial arts, I love TKD. But I am being forced to quit. I have been going to my school for over 8 years! 8 damn years of training. I have been his best student, and I have always exceeded everyone else. Tomorrow is supposed to be my 3rd dan testing. Our montly fee's are at 124 dollars! Testing at 600 dollars! I told him, I am not paying such an obsurd amount of money. He said " You can't test then" He even told me that I would go for free after 3rd dan, now he says NO that I will still have to pay. I stormed out, and it was over. That's it, im done, enough of this bs. I don't know, I have been 2nd dan for 3 yrs, I have 1 testing to go. If he will let me go or not, either way im done, finished. What started out wonderfully, is ending horribly. There is no way in hell im giving in and paying that amount of money. GREED has taken over most TKD schools, enough is enough, no matter how bad you SUCK! if you got the $$$$ you will get your good for nothing black belt! Im sick of this ****!
I hope you find some other school and enjoy the hell out of your training. It wont hurt your old teacher but it might bring back some of your happiness. Bad things happen to good people, so do good things.LOL.
Yes, this $$$ thing is all too rampant in TKD nowadays. It started out with the fact that yes, if a teacher is having to live off of 30 students tuition, then he will be forced to charge quite a lot. HOWEVER, once he has 300 student training in his studio, he doesnt need to be charging them all over $100 a month. That's not even to mention the testing fees, which are the most pointless of all. My 1st dan test was $300, but even though that's much higher than it should be, i didn't complain becuase i've heard of schools that will charge $1,000! All i can say is try to find another school, but no matter what, you're going to be paying a lot of money. The beurocracy that TKD has gotten itself into is sick. All i can say is, if i ever run a studio, i will not charge that much money even IF i only have 20 or 30 students. if thats the case, ill get a second job, not scuker these poor people out of their money. Whatever happened to the days when it was about true art and style, not money? I agree with you, Labatt, wholeheartedly. All i can say is learn to deal with it and find another school.
my tkd is only £17 a month, me and my 2 other mates do hours 8 a week, we get like 32 hours for £17 a month, where i am isnt so bad cause my teacher does actually believe in the art and hes not in there just for the money, he use to wake up at 3 am to go to work just so he could train us in the evenings, hes a good teacher
Sorry to hear about your situation Labatt, I totally agree it is all wrong. Rather than me saying any more about how bad martial arts are nowadays because of the money - i would say look for another art, possibly a better art that doesn't charge as much, maybe it's time to expand your knowledge and grow as a martial artist rather than look at it as the end.
It seems alot more expensive in the USA. My first dan testing fee was £90 and my 2nd dan cost £95. I totally agree that money and politics play WAY too big a part in modern tkd. Hope you can find another school man...Would be a shame to let your fitness and "sharpness" from regular training slip..
The prices are a bit steep in the States. My students pay around $20.- a month and many perspective students say the price is high. They have an opportunity to train up to 14 hours a week too. I guess it depends upon what you feel your money should be used for. It is not uncommon here for people to use $70.- or $80.- on one night at one of the local discos or $8.- on a Big Mac menu at McDonalds. But to pay $20.- a month to train MA; Oh that is all too high. Try to keep things in perspective. Some things cost more than others. If you don't feel it is worth it, you'll have to go somewhere else where you feel you get a better value.
It's amazing about a high price for testing. Have you heard that he wants a new car or anything? Don't let it get you down. Find another school, or style and build your knowledge. i know it's hard to adjust to not wearing a black belt and adjusting, but be above that and go on after your head cools. Good luck and let us know what's up.
Update: I thought to myself, after I cooled down that if I didn't test all those other classes, and money would go to waiste. My testing finished 1 hour ago, 6 hour testing. I did my best, and I was the best. Did my patterns excellently, standing ovation. I did my sparring against a person who is 18 (im 15) and who outways me by 80 pounds, I beat him easly. I took out the one opponent, I havn't been able to, this korean 4th dan, 18 yr old. He low blowed my 2wice, and got in a cheap shot on my throat, I knocked him out, after going literally bezerk, yelling, screaming , adn landing a round house, back kick, side kick, and a spinning kick in to his face. I did this cool matrix thingy too, ppl were like "ahhhh!" I did my breaking, and I did 360 back spinning kick....probelm was I kicked too high, the 6'5er could not hold the board any higher! Every single time, I would kick too high, It's very messed up how High I kicked. So i did a regular spinning kick, into a sliding speed palm punch. In the interview I said, I want to be the "Best martial artist" I did not say the best TKD martial artist. And that's that, im 3rd dan now!!!!!! Whooooo Hooooo! I am going to have a long chat with my master, about everything. Right now, im gonna go eat thanks for your words ppl. I luv martial arts.
Congratulations! Sounds like you got your temper calmed down and the blood cool. Sometimes all it takes is a little time to think things out. Good luck
Congrats to you Labatt! There is all kinds of controversy that involves the ma ... (and not only TKD). I am sure you will now run into "15 yrs. old and a 3rd dan black belt??" ... Everything is worth it in the end!!
Unfortunately what you guys say is true. However I have a long time ma and friend who charges $40.00 a month for blueblelt to black, one of the few old time teaches not in it for the money. Also you won't be promoted unless you know the rank material. I know since he calls me to do all his belt-testings.
Congratulations Labatt, Phew!!! Being a stingy Scotsman I would never part with that amount of money for a belt.
Labatt: I know where you are coming from on this one. After our Grandmaster retired and turned over all of the schools to his son, we saw a large increase in the "application fees" for testing for dan grades (WTF/Kukkiwon). Eventually, my master joined the Independent Taekwondo Association (through GM Pelligrini's ICHF). We just had our first test through this new setup and the price should be quite a bit cheaper. Before (under old system), the price for the 1st dan test was $350 (USD) for the Kukkiwon certificate. In my case, I was looking at about $500 for the 3rd dan test. I don't know about the new prices, but I know they'll be lower through the ITA. I guess the real issue is how much it is worth to you. I am lucky that I have a master whom I would pay a great deal for lessons and the opportunity to test in this system. He keeps the prices low... e.g. testing fees are what his master charges him (no markup). training fees are good, enough to cover the upkeep of the school. Currently, we pay about $25 (non-student/ $15 student) a semester (4 months) to train at the nearby University. For me, this is dirt cheap. The down side is that we only have access to the room two nights weekly, from 6-9 pm. We hope to set up a permanant school downtown. This means that members; fees will go up, mainly to cover the building costs. I expect it will be about $40-60/ month. With our own building, we will probably have classes Mon-Sat, ranging from 5-9 in the evenings and 10-12 on Saturdays (not confirmed yet). I personally feel that this is a good price for potentially lots of training hours. Also, at the university, I pay $25/ semester because it is the membership fee for NON-STUDENTS to join the University club. In the past when we had our own school downtown, the standing policy was black belts train for free with the expectation of helping with warm-ups and classes. I imagine we'll follow this idea. Lastly, congratulations on the 3rd dan test!!!! I was invited over the weekend to prepare for my 3rd dan test in August so I hope to do as well as you!
I hate to be the one to point this out, but... Your master was very likely relying on the fact that you (and everyone else) would have that sort of attitude when it came time to test when he set that fee. It's a very simple principle, the longer you've been at it the more you will be willing to pay to get the certificate. If he charged that for yellow belt everyone would walk out. But he could probably get away with $20, by the time you get to Orange a little more, by green even more. You really need to find out what ALL the fees are when you join a school. It's very easy to ignore it even if you are aware. Because it is so far in the future from your perspective. He also has a sort of monopoly on it. You most likely can't say "No" and take the test under someone else for a lower price. They likely wouldn't test you without lots of training time, and if they did your current instructor might not recognise it if you tried to continue training there. Outside of your school rank doesn't really mean much, if anything. Thats not to say its "wrong", its just something everyone should be aware of before hand...
No - it's the price the gullible are forced to pay for what they have been brainwashed into believing they need.
